PLUG Jumps, CRIS Skyrockets, & FATE Therapeutics Continues Elevating As Markets Climb on Tuesday

It was a good day for many investors in the markets to say the least…

Leading provider of hydrogen engines and fueling solutions enabling e-mobility, Plug Power (PLUG), closed at $28.74/share jumping 16.12% after reaching a new all-time high of $29.48. Recently, PLUG confirmed that they had sold 38M shares priced at $22.25/shares raising a whopping $845.5M which represented about 9.1% of the shares outstanding and brings their capital to the $1.7B range. 

Curis, Inc. (CRIS), a biotech firm focused on the development of innovative therapeutics for the treatment of cancer, announced  positive preliminary data from an ongoing Phase 1 Study of CA-4948 Monotherapy in Patients with Relapsed or Refractory Acute Myeloid Leukemia and Myelodysplastic Syndromes. Shares of Curis skyrocketed to a new 52-week high of $7.90/share prior to settling at $6.55/share up an amazing +354.86% on 309,981,410 shares of trading. After the close of trading,  Curis also announced a proposed public offering & that Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. and JonesTrading Institutional Services LLC are acting as joint lead book runners.

San Diego-based Fate Therapeutics (NASDAQ: FATE), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the development of programmed cellular immunotherapies for cancer and immune disorders, closed at $83.77/share up a whopping +37.8% yesterday continued elevating to new heights today reaching a new all-time high of $96 prior to closing at $91.60/share up another 9.35% & now enjoys a $7.99B market cap.  Will they be bought out soon? hmmm…

As many of you know, we started covering FATE +3 years ago when the stock was trading in the $3-$4 range. It has been an fun and exciting road along the way. The recent leaps in shareholder value have come after Fate presented a patient case study this past Sunday from the Company’s Phase 1 clinical trial of FT596, its universal, off-the-shelf, CD19-targeted chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) natural killer (NK) cell product candidate, at the 62nd Annual Society of Hematology Annual Meeting and Exposition and the street loved it. NK cells are the body’s first line of defense against viral infections and cancerous cells with an innate ability to rapidly seek and destroy transformed cells. NK cell therapy has the potential to 1) target multiple pathogenic antigens with measurably more efficient cytotoxicity, 2) be better controlled to reduce risk of cytokine storms and 3) be produced from a variety of sources without relying on patient-specific immune cells. 

Again today we saw that many other gene editing related stocks also had amazing days i.e. San Francisco-based Nkarta, Inc. (NKTX), another public NK Cell firm, was up another +28.75% as it closed at $62.20/share and now enjoys its own $2.027 billion market cap.

As we mentioned yesterday, we also recently invested in a bridge financing round for Cytovia Therapeutics www.cytoviatx.com, which I believe will be the next NK Cell company that will go public. Cytovia has the former head of the FDA, Michael Friedmen, MD. on its board along with a number of other prominent Logos and scientists and is not too far behind in the clinic from Fate Therapeutics. “Precision NK therapies have the potential to revolutionize cancer treatment with unsurpassed safety and efficacy. We are excited to bring NK Cell Engager antibodies and CAR-NK cell therapies to initial clinical trials starting in 2021, moving towards broad patient access to cancer-defeating cures.” – Dr. Daniel Teper, Cytovia Therapeutics CEO. Please feel free to give me a ring to learn more.

MARKETS CLIMB

Three indices set new record highs today. The S&P 500 moved higher closing at 3,702.25 (+.28%) as the energy sector led the way with a +1.6% hit move even though oil prices pulled back .3% to end at $45.64/bbl. Both the Nasdaq closing at 12,582.77 (+.5%) & the small caps on the Russell 2000 finished at 1,891.25 (-.06%). On the other hand, the Nasdaq moved to a record high closing at 12,519.95 (+.45%) on the strength of the information technology sector which moved up .3% today. The Dow 30 closed at 30,069.79 (-.49%) 

MACRO

The macroeconomic scheduled delivered the Productivity report for Q3 which confirmed a rise by a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.6%. Unit labor costs were confirmed to have dropped at an annual rate of 6.6% as the economy continued to recover during this period. The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index report confirmed a drop to 101.4.

AROUND TECH

The heavily weighted & popular FAANGs ended mixed as follows:  Apple (AAPL) ($124.38, +.51%), Amazon (AMZN) ($3,177.29, +.61%), Alphabet (GOOG) ($1,818.55, -.05%), Facebook (FB) ($283.40, -.76%) & Netflix (NFLX) closed at $512.66/share, -.60%.  

Shares of Elon Musk’s Tesla (TSLA) closed at $649.88/share, +1.27%. It received Buy recommendation from Goldman Sachs that included a $780/share PT. Chinese EV concern NIO Limited (NIO) closed at $46.56/share up 3.21%.  

The leading pan-African e-commerce platform Jumia Technologies (JMIA) kept up its winning ways again today as it closed at $35.50/share, +6.77% or ~12% this week. 

GOLD, SILVER…

Silver prices closed a US $24.65/oz, +.01 & gold prices closed at US $1,870/oz, +5. North American silver and gold producer Hecla Mining Company (HL) closed at $5.32/share (-.37%). HL’s 52-week range is $1.40 – $6.79. Recently, Hecla announced Q3 2020 financial and operating results. Phillips S. Baker, Jr., Hecla’s President and CEO stated, “Because of our strong operating performance and higher prices, Hecla had record adjusted EBITDA, generated the most free cash flow in a decade and repaid our revolver in full. These accomplishments were achieved because of our workforces’ resiliency and our commitment to health and safety. With the Lucky Friday ramp-up ahead of schedule, the expected improvements at Casa Berardi, and our modest planned capital expenditures, we are well positioned to further strengthen our balance sheet, increase exploration activities, and pay our enhanced dividend.” Barrick Gold Corporation (GOLD) closed at $23.90/share, -.21%.

MONEY

The 2-yr treasury yield stayed even at .14% while the 10-yr yield dropped 2 basis points to end at .91%. The U.S. Dollar Index strengthened closing at 90.96. 

Politicians continued their squabble over further stimulus as Senate Leader McConnell threw out a motion to drop both liability protection & state and local government funding from the bill. 

TOMORROW

The Macro schedule will deliver the weekly MBA Mortgage Applications Index, the JOLTS – Job Openings report for October, & Wholesale Inventories report for October.

WATCH LIST

• Shares of INVO Bioscience (INVO) closed trading at $3.09/share. 
  • INVO is a medical device company focused on creating alternative treatments for patients diagnosed with infertility and developers of INVOcell®, the world’s only in vivo Intravaginal Culture System. Industry forecasts suggest that only 1% to 2% of the estimated 150 million infertile couples worldwide are currently being treated. INVO’s mission is to increase access to care and expand infertility treatment across the globe with a goal of improving patient affordability and industry capacity. Since January 2019, INVO Bioscience has signed commercialization agreements in the United States, India, as well as parts of Africa and Eurasia and Mexico for the INVOcell device.

• • Recently, INVO filed an 8k highlighting three new partners that they have established to distribute or develop invocell only clinics in Malaysia and North Macedonia. 

• • Today, there was an 8k filed that stated, “On December 2, 2020, we entered into a Distribution Agreement with Tasnim Behboud Arman (“Distributor”) to distribute the INVOcell system to the Islamic Republic of Iran under which Distributor was appointed as the exclusive distributor in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The agreement is for an initial term of one year and can be renewed upon the mutual agreement of the parties. We also granted Distributor a non-exclusive right to the INVO trademarks in Iran in connection with the sale of products in Iran.”

• Shares of NeuBase Therapeutics (NBSE) closed at $8.02/share, -1.23%. Its 52-week high is $11.78/share.
  • NeuBase is developing the next generation of gene silencing therapies with its flexible, highly specific synthetic antisense oligonucleotides. The proprietary NeuBase peptide-nucleic acid (PNA) antisense oligonucleotide (PATrOL™) platform allows for the rapid development of targeted drugs, increasing the treatment opportunities for the hundreds of millions of people affected by rare genetic diseases, including those that can only be treated through accessing of secondary RNA structures. Using PATrOL technology, NeuBase aims to first tackle rare, genetic neurological disorders. NeuBase is continuing its progress towards developing treatment candidates in Huntington’s Disease (HD) and Myotonic Dystrophy (DM1) and is expected to release further data prior to year end 2020.

• • Recently, NeuBase announced the appointment of Curt Bradshaw, Ph.D., as its new Chief Scientific Officer. Dr. Bradshaw is a proven drug developer in the field of precision genetic medicines, coming to NeuBase from his most recent role as Chief Scientific Officer at Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals (ARWR) ($64.72/share +3.32%) ($6.65B mkt cap). In his new role, Dr. Bradshaw will be responsible for leading and expanding NeuBase’s PATrOL-enabled anti-gene pipeline and will serve as a key member of its executive management team. Learn more.

• Shares of Atossa Therapeutics (ATOS) closed at $1.43/share, -8.92%. 
  • Atossa is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company seeking to discover and develop innovative medicines in areas of significant unmet medical need with a current focus on breast cancer and COVID-19.

• • An 8k was recently filed at sec.gov by Atossa that read  “On November 26, 2020, Atossa Therapeutics, Inc. (“Atossa”) entered into a sponsored research agreement with Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Inc. (the “Agreement”). The Agreement provides that Atossa will support research of cytokine-coated nanoparticles for the potential treatment of breast cancer by Carl Novina, MD, Ph.D.”

• • Atossa also announced recently the blinded preliminary results from its Phase 1 clinical study using Atossa’s proprietary drug candidate AT-301 administered by nasal spray. AT-301 was found to be safe and well tolerated in this study at two different dose levels in both single and multiple dose forms over 14 days. AT-301 is being developed for at home use for patients recently diagnosed with COVID-19. There are currently no FDA-approved therapies to treat COVID-19 at home. Learn more.

Economic Reports

• On Monday, we received the Consumer credit report which confirmed a rise by $7.2B in October.
• On Tuesday, we received the Productivity report for Q3 which confirmed a rise by a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.6%. Unit labor costs were confirmed to have dropped at an annual rate of 6.6% as the economy continued to recover during this period. The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index report confirmed a drop to 101.4.

Investing & Inspiration

“The investor’s chief problem — even his worst enemy — is likely to be himself.” — Benjamin Graham

“No profession requires more hard work, intelligence, patience, and mental discipline than successful speculation.” – Robert Rhea

“Money is like a sixth sense – and you can’t make use of the other five without it.” – William Somerset Maugham

“Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it. He who doesn’t, pays it.” — Albert Einstein

“Never count on making a good sale. Have the purchase price be so attractive that even a mediocre sale gives good results” — Warren Buffett

“The stock market is a device for transferring money from the impatient to the patient.” – Warren Buffett

“Thousands of experts study overbought indicators, head-and-shoulder patterns, put-call ratios, the Fed’s policy on money supply…and they can’t predict markets with any useful consistency, any more than the gizzard squeezers could tell the Roman emperors when the Huns would attack.” – Peter Lynch

“Investing puts money to work. The only reason to save money is to invest it.” – Grant Cardone

“You cannot save time for your future use however you can invest time for your future.” – John F. Heerdink, Jr. 

“Know what you own, and know why you own it.” – Peter Lynch

“Liquidity is only there when you don’t need it.” -Old Proverb

“If you want to be a millionaire, start with a billion dollars and launch a new airline.” – Richard Branson

“Fear incites human action far more urgently than does the impressive weight of historical evidence.” – Jeremy Siegel

“In investing, what is comfortable is rarely profitable.” – Robert Arnott

“Spend each day trying to be a little wiser than you were when you woke up.” – Charlie Munger

“The entrance strategy is actually more important than the exit strategy.” – Edward Lampert

“The rivers don’t drink their own water; Trees don’t eat their own fruits. The sun does not shine for itself, And flowers do not spread their fragrance For themselves. Living for others is a rule of nature” – Pope Francis

“It is impossible to produce superior performance unless you do something different from the majority.” – John Templeton

“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.” – Benjamin Franklin.

“I believe the returns on investment in the poor are just as exciting as successes achieved in the business arena, and they are even more meaningful!” -Bill Gates

“Every portfolio benefits from bonds; they provide a cushion when the stock market hits a rough patch. But avoiding stocks completely could mean your investment won’t grow any faster than the rate of inflation.” – Suze Orman

“The tax on capital gains directly affects investment decisions, the mobility, and flow of risk capital… the ease or difficulty experienced by new ventures in obtaining capital, and thereby the strength and potential for growth in the economy.” – John F. Kennedy

“If all the economists were laid end to end, they’d never reach a conclusion. -George Bernard Shaw

“There are old traders and there are bold traders, but there are very few old, bold traders.”-Ed Seykota

“Let this scenario play out on its own, in its own fashion. As you watch it unfold, you will soon be grateful that you choose the peaceful path. Remember — those who live by the sword, die by the sword.”

“As long as you enjoy investing, you’ll be willing to do the homework and stay in the game.” -Jim Cramer

“I rarely think the market is right. I believe non-dividend stocks aren’t much more than baseball cards. They are worth what you can convince someone to pay for it.” -Mark Cuban

“Michael Marcus taught me one other thing that is absolutely critical: You have to be willing to make mistakes regularly; there is nothing wrong with it. Michael taught me about making your best judgment, being wrong, making your next best judgment, being wrong, making your third best judgment, and then doubling your money.” -Bruce Kovner

“The policy of being too cautious is the greatest risk of all.” -Jawaharlal Nehru

“The only true test of whether a stock is “cheap” or “high” is not its current price in relation to some former price, no matter how accustomed we may have become to that former price, but whether the company’s fundamentals are significantly more or less favorable than the current financial-community appraisal of that stock.” -Philip Fisher

“I learned to avoid trying to catch up or double up to recoup losses. I also learned that a certain amount of loss will affect your judgment, so you have to put some time between that loss and the next trade.” -Richard Dennis

“The four most dangerous words in investing are: ‘this time it’s different.” -Sir John Templeton

“Money doesn’t make you happy. I now have $50 million but I was just as happy when I had $48 million.” -Arnold Schwarzenegger